


Henry

by lizandletdie



Series: The Adoption!verse [21]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Teen Pregnancy, adoption!verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-30
Updated: 2014-10-03
Packaged: 2018-02-19 08:38:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2381978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lizandletdie/pseuds/lizandletdie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adoption!verse future fic, wherein Bae has a fight with his mother and his father learns why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Tri-sarah-top-saurus said: Teenage Bae has to tell his parents that he got Emma pregnant? Belle is distraught that she has failed as a mother and doesn’t react very well? Obviously everyone is very emotional and Bae lashes out…???
> 
> I hate that I have to do this, but apparently I do. If you're reading this fic anywhere besides AO3, it was posted without my consent and likely profited someone else. Please consider [donating](https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=CZNGXGNP4PRX4&lc=US&item_name=The%20Mantis%20Fund&currency_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF%3abtn_donate_SM%2egif%3aNonHosted) or swinging by my Tumblr (standbyyourmantis) to let me know what you thought!

Belle was livid. She'd gotten the call around noon that her son hadn't shown up for school that day. Well, whatever he'd been up to she hoped he'd enjoyed himself because it was going to be a long, long time before he got to do anything fun ever again. The strange thing was, it wasn't really like him to cut class. Honestly, her main concern was that he hadn't been answering his phone. If he was going to skip (and he had better not, but that was largely beside the point now) then he needed to be able to be contacted. So, basically, she was terrified and angry – never a good combination.

She had managed to distract herself most of the afternoon by pacing angrily in the living room and sending Katie to do her homework with her father. As the afternoon ticked ever onward, Belle felt her panic rising. This was not like him. He never went off without telling her where he was going and he had that damn phone practically glued to his hands. And beyond that, he knew he'd been caught and that hiding would only make it worse – even when he did stupid things, he always came clean when she confronted him. She had a million ideas of what had happened to him running through her head that started with his birth mom having shown up and ended with him being sold into sex slavery. She was minutes away from calling the cops when the door swung open and Bae walked through it.

She rushed to her son, throwing her arms around him and hugging him until she felt him squirm to get away. He was home, he was safe, and she was going to kill him.

“Where have you _been_?” she nearly shrieked at him.

“Oh my God,” he exclaimed, pulling away from her. “I'm fine, Mom, what's the big deal?”

“ _What's the big deal?_ ” Belle slammed the door behind him before the neighbors got a really good story out of this. “The big deal is I get a call that you weren't in school today and now you're an hour late getting home! You didn't answer your phone, Bae, I thought you were dead!”

“I was hanging out with Emma” he said, glancing away from her. He was lying, and he was doing a terrible job of it.

“And whatever you had going on with Emma was so important that you couldn't even text me to say you'd be home late?”

“Why won't you get off my back?” he demanded. “I'm fine, I can take care of myself!”

He was a solid half a foot taller than her now, but he was still her baby, dammit.

“Why won't you tell me where you were?” she responded, grabbing his arm as he tried to pull away from her. Something was not right.

“Because it's none of your business!” he shouted, spinning to face her.

“I'm your mother -” she began, but he cut her off.

“You're not my real mom!”

Belle was brought up short by his outburst. She knew it was a phase, she'd known it was coming since he was a baby, and she knew he didn't mean it, but 'real mom' were two words Belle had been dreading hearing since Bae had first been placed in her arms all those years ago. He looked a little spooked that he'd even said it, and was staring at her in wide-eyed desperation to see if she would rise to his bait.

She would, and she knew it. Anything she said to him now would be hateful and bitter, so instead she said nothing.

She spun on her heel and walked from the room as calmly as she could manage, only now realizing her husband had come in during their fight. She saw Arthur's dumbstruck horror at their son's outburst, and she hoped he wouldn't say anything he would regret but she couldn't warn him because if she said anything she'd start screaming. It would be fine. It would all be fine, she just needed to get away from Bae for a little while.

It wasn't really comforting to know that the only reason he felt comfortable pushing her like this was because he knew how much she loved him, and that he'd never say anything like that to anyone else.

She grabbed her coat from where it hung next to the door and rushed out into the street, because the only way she could see everyone surviving this day was if she burned off a lot of energy before setting eyes on her son again.

 

Gold couldn't believe what he'd just walked in on. Belle and Bae were very, very close. He was pretty sure that it was generally just a natural result of not having had anyone else but each other for ten years and focused his energy more on Katie to make up for that. Even though Belle handled most of Bae's discipline, the two rarely ever argued. Bae was generally a good kid and Belle preferred other methods of handling bad behavior over screaming matches in the foyer. The yelling in and of itself was shocking, but the words _real mom_ left him gaping openly at his son. Belle was his mom, that was the end of it. The only other person who'd ever tried to claim that title hadn't been in Bae's life since the boy was four. Belle had been the one who taught him to walk and to read and bandaged his skinned knees. He didn't _have_ another mom.

“Bae,” Arthur said softly. He could see the tears welling up in his son's eyes and his heart was breaking for both of them.

Bae said nothing, instead he just ran up the stairs and slammed the door to his room. It was probably for the best, anyway. Let him cool off and then see if he could get to the bottom of all this.

It took twenty minutes for Arthur to get Katie settled with a DVD of _Beauty & the Beast_ and a bowl of popcorn before he felt prepared to knock on Bae's door.

“I don't wanna talk, Dad,” he heard from inside.

“I don't care,” Arthur replied. “We need to discuss this before your mother gets home.”

He didn't get an answer, but the door was unlocked and Bae'd had plenty of warning that someone was outside so he let himself in. His son was laying on his stomach with his head resting on his arms as he stared at a wall.

“I said I don't want to talk about it,” Bae muttered.

“Too bad,” Arthur replied, sitting in the desk chair and watching Bae. “What's gotten into you today? You cut school, didn't answer your phone...” he didn't dare mention what he'd said to his mother, didn't think either was ready to talk about that yet. “Where were you?”

Bae flinched a little at the direct question, shutting his eyes tight against his father's questions.

“Emma's pregnant,” he finally said, his voice cracking a little. “We went to a clinic to make sure, but they said...” here, his voice broke into sobs and he buried his face in his hands.

Arthur felt his blood run cold. Emma was pregnant. His son was going to be a father. His son was barely seventeen. This couldn't be happening to them.

“Oh son,” Arthur moved to sit on the bed, wrapping his arms around his child and hugging him tight. He couldn't even think right now. He just saw the life he had envisioned for his child evaporating before his eyes, starting with college.

“I don't know what I'm going to do,” Bae sobbed. “I'm so scared.”

“What are you scared of?”

“She's not sure if she wants to keep it or not,” he was shaking now. “The woman at the clinic said she was too far along to be able to...to...” he hiccuped a little and Arthur understood that the word _terminate_ was a little too real for both of them right now, so he nodded and smoothed Bae's hair down a little like he thought he would have when the boy was little had he known him then. “She thinks she might give it up for adoption,” Bae said finally.

“That's a good choice,” Arthur was trying not to be judgmental, but adoption would be an excellent choice. It would let both kids go on with their lives as much as was possible.

“But what if it thinks we don't want it?”

“What do you mean?”

“I don't want my child thinking I didn't love it,” he murmured. “Because I do love it.”

Arthur was suddenly hit with a thousand little memories of Bae asking idle questions about Milah, of his son idly wanting to see old photo albums and asking questions about his father's life before. And with the memory of a ten year old asking him over ice cream why he hadn't been wanted. Maybe there were some conversations that they were overdue to have.

“Oh Bae,” he rocked his son a little. “It wasn't about that. Never about that.”

“I love Mom,” Bae whimpered. “But I don't want to give my child away. And what if Emma does?”

“Well, for starters, we know a lot of family law attorneys,” Arthur said with a smile. “And if Emma doesn't want the baby and you do, then there's no reason that you can't get primary custody. But she's still very early on, son. There's a lot of time for everyone to think things through and to make these decisions.”

Bae sniffled a little, but relaxed a little bit more into the hug.

“As far as _you_ being wanted,” Arthur released Bae a little bit so he could look at his son's face when he said this next part. “Son, you were never not wanted. I'd have wanted you if I'd known about you, and your mother definitely always wanted you. As far as Milah goes...Bae, she was on drugs when you were born. She wasn't really in her right mind, she was an addict, but she still loved you enough to know you deserved better and take you to someplace you'd be cared for. Not to absolve her of what happened later, but in her own way I think she was trying.” He took a deep breath before he continued. “There was never a moment in time that you weren't loved and wanted. Never ever think that. And you won't lose this child, son. I'm here now, and I can guarantee you that if you want to be with your baby then you'll be with it. No one is going to take it from you.”

Bae nodded and wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his hoodie.

“I do think you owe your mother an apology, though,” Arthur said as sternly as he could manage. “And an explanation.”

“I know,” Bae sniffled. “I shouldn't have said it.”

“No, you shouldn't have,” he pulled the boy into another hug. “But she'll forgive you. She loves you more than life itself. And in the meantime, we can start working out a plan for what you want to do.”

“You really mean it?” Bae said in a small voice. “I can have custody if Emma doesn't want it?”

“Of course,” Arthur replied. “You're its father. I could have had custody of you if I'd wanted to separate you from your mom, we just decided that wasn't in your best interest. This situation is a little different, but you have rights. And your mother and I will stand by whatever you decide, okay?”

“Okay.”

But it wasn't really okay, Arthur knew. Not yet, anyway. But he thought, maybe, it could be okay again soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone begged me for fluff, and I don't consider that filled but this chapter is a lot easier than the last one.

Bae was still sitting in his room on his bed. Emma had texted to let him know that she'd told her parents. Her dad hadn't taken it very well, but she was pretty sure he wasn't on his way over to shoot him, so that was good news he guessed. He still wasn't sure how he felt about it – he wasn't sure he was really feeling anything at the moment, or maybe he was feeling everything.

“Bae?” he heard Katie's voice from the door.

“What's up, Kiddo?”

“My movie ended,” she said with a pout.

“So ask Dad to put another one on.”

“I can't,” she replied. “He's in the office with Mama.”

Katie wasn't allowed in the office when the door was closed, and the fact that both parents were in there meant that his dad was telling her about Emma. He was going to have to apologize for what he said earlier, another conversation he wasn't looking forward to.

“Bae, what's going on?” Katie asked him, fidgeting in the doorway. “Why is everyone angry?”

“So you heard that, huh?” he sighed, patting the space on the bed next to him. “C'mere, Kiddo.”

She happily clambered over, climbing up onto his bed and cuddling up to him. His relationship with Katie had never really been like other siblings – he had been almost thirteen when she was born, after all. She'd never been the annoying kid sister trailing around after his friends, she'd been more like a puppy who followed after him, eager to please and desperate for attention. She was his as much as she was his parents' and he loved her so much.

“I made a mistake, Kiddo,” he said softly.

“Cuz you yelled at Mama?”

“That's part of it,” he admitted, squeezing her a little. “But I did other stuff, too.”

“Did you say you're sorry?” she looked up at him. “Mama says you always have to say you're sorry and that'll make it better.”

“I don't think it'll help this time,” he said weakly.

“Why not?”

To hell with it, she was going to find out sooner or later.

“I'm gonna be a dad, Kiddo.”

“Why?”

Katie didn't know a whole lot about where babies came from, and Bae knew his parents wouldn't want him to go into too many details with her (and honestly he didn't want to get into that either), but she was the one person in the world who he knew wouldn't judge him.

“It was an accident,” he explained.

“Oh,” she seemed to think for a second. “How do you do that?”

“Remember when Ashley had to stop babysitting you for a little awhile and when she came back she had a baby?”

Katie nodded.

“She had a baby growing inside of her,” he said. “Emma has a baby growing in her now, too.”

“And the baby is yours?”

“Yeah, Kiddo,” he swallowed the tears. “The baby is mine.”

Thankfully, she didn't press him for any more details on the matter of where babies came from, instead snuggling up to him.

“Today I drew a picture of us in school today,” she chirped. “Daddy put it on the fridge when I got home.”

“Yeah?” he said absently. “What were we doing?”

“It was when we went to the park,” she began. “And you pushed me on the swings so hard and I fell and then scraped my knee, remember?”

“Yeah Kiddo,” he replied. “I remember. I kissed it better and then we got ice cream.”

She nodded.

“It was a good picture,” she glanced up at him as she spoke. “I think you'd like it.”

“I'm sure I would. I'll look later, okay?”

“Okay. Bae?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you say Mama isn't your real mom?”

“Because I was angry,” which was the truth. Or at least as much of the truth as he could give her. “I was angry and I wanted to hurt her.”

“So she is your real mom, then?”

“She's my real mom,” he reassured her. “But I have a different mom, too.”

“What's that mean?”

“Well, our mom had you growing inside of her, but I grew inside of Dad's first wife. When I was a baby, she gave me to Mom.”

“So you have two mommies?”

He shook his head.

“I haven't seen my other mom in a lot of years, and I haven't lived with her since I was younger than you. I only have the one mom.”

“So you're still my brother,” she said happily.

“I'd always be your brother,” he replied. “Even if I did have another mom.”

Katie didn't get to reply, whatever she would have said was interrupted by a knock on the open door. He saw his mother standing in the hallway, bundled in a sweater and looking like she'd been crying.

“Can I talk to your brother privately?” she said to Katie, who nodded and popped up on her knees to kiss Bae on the cheek.

“Remember what I said about apologizing,” she whispered loud enough that their mother heard and smiled in spite of herself.

Katie hopped down off the bed and walked out into the hallway, presumably to find their father and finagle another movie out of this or else maybe an explanation about where babies came from.

“So I guess Dad told you,” Bae said.

“Yeah,” she replied, shutting the door and coming to sit at the foot of the bed. “He told me as soon as I got in the house.”

“That's good,” he couldn't quite bring himself to look at her yet. “I'm sorry I yelled at you. And I'm sorry I said...what I said.”

“Don't,” she was crying again and shook her head. “You don't have to apologize. I know you didn't mean it.”

“You're the only one who's always been there for me,” he broke out in tears again.

She scooted closer, pulling him into a hug and holding his head as he cried onto her shoulder like she had when he was a little boy.

“My poor, sweet baby,” she cooed. “I'm so sorry, Bae. I'm sorry this is happening.”

“I made a huge mistake, Mom,” he sobbed. “I don't know what I'm going to do.”

“We'll figure it out,” she promised. “I'll always be here, no matter what.”

That shouldn't have made him feel better, but somehow just hearing her say it out loud made it just a little bit easier to believe. His mom had always been there, and he knew she always would be.

 

After she'd talked things over with Bae a little bit, Belle knew what she had to do. Mary Margaret Nolan had been Bae's fourth grade teacher, and she'd known Emma since the girl was Katie's age. Belle would have been heartbroken for her even if her son hadn't been the father of her child.

The Nolan house was in an uproar when Mary Margaret finally opened the door and saw Belle standing there.

“Oh good,” Mary Margaret sighed. “You know already.”

“I do,” Belle said as she stepped into the house. “I'm so, so sorry.”

“No,” Mary Margaret replied, waving off the apology. “It's not your fault. It's not Bae's fault, it's not Emma's fault. They were just...careless.”

“How's David taking it?”

“Well,” Mary Margaret took a deep breath before answering. “When Emma told us, he said something about 'who did this to you?' and now Emma is locked in her room and won't do anything but yell things through the door at me. David had to go for a drive. I think he's just disappointed more than anything.”

“Wow,” Belle said. “Bae told me I wasn't his real mom and then confessed to his father once I'd stormed out.”

Mary Margaret suppressed a giggle – poorly.

“I'm sorry,” she sighed. “It's not really funny. It's just...I remember when my biggest problem with the two of them was that she liked to shove him over and run away when they were six.”

Belle smirked at the memory.

“Oh God, I'd forgotten about that,” she was laughing now, too. “He was so heartbroken but he refused to give up hope.”

“And now we're sharing a grandchild,” Mary Margaret said with a tight voice. “I don't know what we're going to do. She's only sixteen.”

“He just turned seventeen,” Belle agreed. “They're still babies themselves.”

“I wasn't a lot older when I had her,” Mary Margaret admitted. “David and I got married straight out of high school and I had Emma before I was twenty.”

“I got Bae when I was twenty-three,” Belle sighed. “I'm still not sure I was ready then.”

“I'm not sure you're ever really ready,” Mary Margaret's voice took on a far away quality for a moment before she shook herself back to the present. “But you came over for a reason.”

“I wanted to see if you needed anything,” Belle replied. “And to see what Emma wants to do.”

“So far, she just wants to lock herself in her room.”

“Bae wants to keep the baby,” Belle said finally. “If Emma decides she doesn't want to raise it, he wants it.”

“Bae's a good boy,” Mary Margaret added. “But we should go get Emma. Maybe she'll talk to you, if she won't talk to me.”

Belle was lead down a hallway to a locked door bearing a painted wood sign reading _Emma_.

“Emma?” Mary Margaret called. “Honey, Mrs. Gold is here.”

“I don't want to talk to anyone,” came the sullen voice from the other side.

“Emma,” Belle called out. “I just wanted to talk about how we could help you.”

“I don't need any help!”

“Well, can we at least talk about what you want to do?”

There wasn't an answer right away, but there was a click of the door unlocking and Mary Margaret practically dove at the knob in her haste to get into her daughter's room.

Emma was sitting on a window seat and facing away from them. Mary Margaret perched on her daughter's bed, leaving Belle to lean against a bureau. The silence went on for a moment, nobody quite knowing what to say.

“You wanted to talk?” Emma finally said softly.

“Yeah,” Belle replied. “I do. I want to talk about what you want to do, actually.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, have you considered your options?”

“The lady at the clinic said I couldn't have an abortion. I'm already in the fifth month.”

“I mean,” Belle continued, “do you want to give the baby up or keep it? Do you want to stay with your parents or try to move out? College?”

“What's the point?”

“Emma,” Mary Margaret interrupted. “You're going to be a mom now. Mrs. Gold and I are just trying to figure out how we can help you do that.”

Emma looked back and forth between them, as though it had never really occurred to her that she might still have choices available to her.

“You'd help me?”

Belle wasn't sure if this was directed more towards her or Mary Margaret, but she answered anyway.

“You're having my grandchild,” she said softly. “I don't want this to be any harder on you or Bae than it has to be.”

“I'm so scared,” Emma admitted. “I don't know how to even think about it.”

“Well,” Belle replied. “That's what we're here for, to talk you through it. As long as it takes.”

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter, but I'm still taking prompts in this 'verse if anyone has any.

 Bae was thankful his parents understood what was going on well enough not to make him go to school the next day. Emma's parents had let her stay home as well, under the condition she not leave the house. They texted on and off all morning, but when Katie came home from school his mom said she had some errands to run and asked him to please watch his sister while she was gone and he was forced to slow down his responses while they continued with a marathon game of Candy Land that had been going on for the better part of a month (Bae had been cheating non-stop to keep either one from winning).

He probably shouldn't have been too surprised when Emma arrived on his doorstep an hour or so later.

“I thought you were grounded,” he blurted out when he saw her.

She shrugged.

“They went out,” she explained. “I couldn't be alone anymore.”

Bae stood there staring at her for a little longer than he meant to, things had been a little weird between them since she'd first confessed that she might be pregnant. They'd known each other almost their entire lives, and dating had almost been a logical conclusion to that. He wasn't sure if they would have stayed together after high school, and they'd never discussed it. And now they were having a baby. Just the idea of Emma, who he'd known since the first day of kindergarten, growing his child inside of her made him a little dizzy, so he tried his best not to think about it too much. You could start to tell now, though. She wore hoodies all the time lately, but if you looked closely you could tell something wasn't right. He was a little shocked that they'd managed to not notice before, but then again you weren't supposed to notice when your girlfriend put on weight and pregnancy had been too big to think about anyway.

“Can I come in?” she said finally.

He wasn't supposed to be alone with girls in the house – including Emma – but he kind of thought that ship had pretty much sailed at this point. Whatever his parents were afraid of them getting up to he was pretty sure “pregnancy” was a worst case scenario, so he stepped aside and let her in.

Emma pulled off her jacket, and Bae's eyes instantly went to her torso. He caught himself, and managed to drag his gaze back up to her face in time that he didn't think she'd caught him looking, but he couldn't help it. The whole idea of fatherhood was still so surreal, he couldn't quite get his head around it.

“Katie and I were playing Candyland,” he said apologetically. “But I have to make snacks soon. You can take my turn if you want.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Okay, Candyland. Right. I totally remember how to play that.”

She was lying, but he got it. She was just as uncomfortable as he was.

“Hey Kiddo,” he called into the living room. “Emma's gonna play for me while I make snacks, okay?”

“Okay,” Katie replied disinterestedly. She honestly didn't care who she played against, she was mostly concerned that nobody had won yet.

“I don't know how to play Candyland,” Emma whispered as he went to walk towards the kitchen.

“I've been cheating like a madman,” he whispered back. “It's fine.”

She whimpered a little but this time walked in and sat down with his sister. He watched them for a minute before heading to the kitchen to get out Katie's after school snack. Usually his mom gave her carrot sticks and apple slices, so he got those out and also some string cheese and a box of crackers. Emma was probably hungry, too, and he was in a state of near starvation most of the day. His dad said it was because he was probably still growing, his birth mom was pretty tall after all.

It only took him a few minutes to get the food together and grab a few juice boxes for the three of them, but by the time he got to the living room Katie and Emma were sitting in awkward silence.

“I lost your game,” Emma said apologetically as he set the plate down and sat on the floor with them.

“Oh,” he replied. “Well, nothing good lasts forever.”

She flashed him a weak smile, and he slipped her hand into his quietly. Katie gave them a weird look, but went back to chewing on her apple slices quietly.

“Bae says you're growing a baby,” she said to Emma, who nearly choked on a carrot stick and looked at both of them with a deer in the headlights expression on her face.

Katie just kept looking at Emma curiously, and Emma kept staring at Bae as if he had any idea what to say. Well, he got her into this mess (sort of), she may have a point.

“Hey Kiddo,” he said. “How about I put on _Sophia_ for a little bit while Emma and I go talk in the kitchen, yeah?”

Katie was glaring at him but he knew she'd relent. _Sophia the First_ was her current obsession in life and Bae controlled access to the Disney channel in lieu of their parents. It didn't take him long to get her happily settled on the sofa with her shows and a juice box and to remove Emma to the kitchen.

“If you're hungry I can microwave something,” he'd impregnated her, he could at least make Hot Pockets or whatever.

“No, I'm fine,” she said. “So you told your sister?”

“She was going to find out sooner or later,” he said apologetically. “Did you not want me to?”

“It's okay,” she replied. “I guess everyone's going to know soon.”

“Yeah,” he said with a sigh. “We're going to have to go back to school tomorrow. People are going to talk.”

“It's like something that's happening to someone else,” she admitted. “I just keep wishing I could go back in time and not do it and sometimes it feels like if I concentrate hard enough on it I can.”

He nodded in agreement. The ironic thing was, they hadn't even had sex that much. The transition from friends to boyfriend and girlfriend had been a little bit weird and neither one had dated much before. They'd made out a lot, but not much else. The sex had been more of something they'd tried because everyone else assumed they were having it.

He'd never even bought a box of condoms, they'd basically gone off of freebies from the local clinic and vending machines for the dozen or so times they'd actually gone all the way. The one time that coincided with the baby being conceived had actually been the first time (for both of them, actually). They'd been at a party for the last day of school, someone had brought wine coolers, and they'd ended up in a spare bedroom. It hadn't been magical or romantic or world changing or any of the things he'd thought it would be. He didn't even feel any different the next day.

They were both scared at first, but as the weeks ticked on both pushed it to the back of their minds. She'd had a period after, but the nurse at the clinic said that wasn't unusual the first month, and that was that. Consequences were for other people, people who didn't have two parents and good grades. Except, now here they were.

“Look, Emma,” he said after a moment. “I just wanted to say I'm sorry about what happened. If I'd known...”

“Don't apologize,” she interrupted him. “We were both stupid. It wasn't just you.”

He didn't really know what to say, so he just hugged her. She tensed for a moment before relaxing into it. She trusted him, he knew. That was what hurt the most when he thought about it. The baby part was terrifying, but a part of him loved the child already. What he couldn't handle was the idea that he'd let everyone down. His parents had trusted them, her parents had trusted them – her dad in particular had told him flat out that he was happy Emma was dating him because he knew Bae was a good kid. And he'd let them all down. About thirteen times. Emma trusted him, too, because they'd known each other for their entire lives. He wasn't the sort of guy to take trust lightly, but he'd completely blown it.

They snapped apart at the sound of the front door opening and his parents voices. They'd just been hugging, after all, and clearly everyone already knew what they'd been up to, but at this point he didn't think either one really wanted to give even more life to the stories.

“Bae?” he heard his mom's voice call to him from the living room.

“In the kitchen, Mom!” he called back.

“Oh good,” she said as she walked in with his father and Emma's parents in tow. “Emma's here already.”

Bae didn't miss the look Emma's dad gave him, but he was more concerned with the fact that they were apparently looking for the both of them.

“What's going on?” Emma asked suspiciously as her mom tried to put an arm around her. One thing he liked about Emma is that she never shied away from asking questions like that.

All the various adults exchanged looks before Mrs. Nolan spoke.

“Well, we all,” she gestured to both sets of parents before continuing, “got together to discuss the future and what we thought you two would need and how we could help you guys.”

“Exactly,” Bae's father added. “We wanted to let you guys be as responsible for this as possible but we are very aware that you're going to need some help getting there.”

“What do you mean?” he asked for both of them. Emma had grabbed his hand behind the table and he gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“Well,” his mom said. “We all thought it was really important for everyone that Bae is going to be providing some sort of financial support. But we also know that Bae doesn't have any money. So, Bae, your dad and I were talking to your uncle Tiny, and we've decided to buy back part of the florist.”

Uncle Tiny had been his mom's employee when he was a kid and the man who bought the shop from her when she sold it to go back to school after she married his dad. He wasn't really Bae's uncle, but it was close enough. The confusion probably showed on his face, because she continued.

“Bae, you're going to work at the flower shop a few times a week after school and part of your pay is going to go to child support for the baby and Emma if Emma decides she wants to keep it.”

“Emma,” his dad picked up for his mom. “We know that isn't going to be a lot of money and that's not the only support you're going to get from us. We're going to help you out any way you can. And if you need anything else, you can ask us or tell Bae or your parents and we'll help you out.”

“And you can stay with us as long as you need, sweetie,” Mrs. Nolan interrupted. “Your dad and I will be there for you every single step of the way.”

Mr. Nolan just nodded. He'd taken the whole thing a lot harder than anyone else.

“Bae,” his mom redirected the conversation again. “You know that your dad and I had originally planned to pay for your college but with the situation like it is, we decided that might not be entirely appropriate. So, when you graduate, we're giving you the flower shop. Not all of it, but you'll be an equal partner with your uncle. I know it's not really what you'd planned on, but it's enough to raise a baby on.”

She said the last part with a self-deprecating little smile and he couldn't help but smile back. The flower shop had paid for everything for both of them until he was ten years old, after all.

“As for Emma,” she continued. “I'm about to finish my Master's degree and Bae's dad and I had been talking about him hiring help for the shop so he can retire and be home for Katie. So first of all, you're welcome to have a job there after school. It's pretty slow in the afternoons so you can do your homework, and he'll also watch the baby for you for school and work. And Emma, sweetheart, this all applies whether you and Bae stay together or not. You're having our grandchild. We're going to make sure you're both cared for.”

She said the last with a long look at Bae's dad and a loving little smile. Bae could see that Emma was close to tears and risked putting an arm around her. She bit her lip and leaned her head on his shoulder and Bae could see her dad looking away, but he didn't look upset anymore.

“Emma, your dad and I are still going to pay for your college,” Mrs. Nolan continued. “If you still want to go, that is. If you decide it's too weird to be at school and have a baby, we'll help you get your GED or you can finish school online.”

“You can study whatever you want,” her dad finally spoke. “But we'd kind of recommend maybe you go for a two year degree at the community college so you don't have to leave town. Or separate the baby from the rest of its family.”

Bae's heart felt a million times lighter. He had a job and a career later, and flower arranging wasn't exactly what he was passionate about but he could do something else later once the baby was a little older, couldn't he? And Emma didn't have to give up her entire future – she'd only ever wanted to join the police force, anyway. And, best of all, the baby would be here for at least four years while Emma did school and everything.

“The important thing to remember,” Mrs. Nolan said. “Is that we all love you both so much. And we're going to do everything we can to make this work.”

All four nodded and for the first time since Emma told him she thought she might be pregnant he could see how maybe they might make this work.

 

“He's a good kid,” David said slowly. It sounded like it hurt him to say, but Arthur understood. He didn't know what he'd do if their roles were reversed.

“He is,” Arthur agreed. “They'll be okay, I think. Emma's a fighter. You raised her well.”

“She's my little girl,” he said absently, glancing over to where Emma and Bae sat playing games with Katie.

“She was even when she was a baby,” David said with a smirk. “God, you could not put that girl to sleep before she was ready. We tried literally everything in every single book and there were still three months that I'm pretty sure we only survived by sheer willpower.”

Gold chuckled a little bit.

“I never got any of that until Katie came along,” he admitted. “But from what Belle's told me Bae was always easy going. And of course with Katie, well, Bae was always there to help, too. It was almost like she had three parents sometimes.”

“That's good,” David said. “At least one one of them will have some idea of what to do with a baby.”

“He'll be a good dad,” Arthur promised. “As good of one as a seventeen year old can be, anyway.”

“I hope so,” David replied. “I don't want to have to throw a shotgun wedding after all.”


End file.
